Guide
How to hand off work between AI coding agents
In short
A good handoff between agents has 4 parts: a goal, the context the next agent needs, a time budget and acceptance checks that run before you see the result. brainplane calls this a checked handoff and runs it between Claude Code, Codex and Grok on your Mac.
Updated 9 October 2026. Checked with brainplane 0.2.2.
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What goes wrong in a handoff
Moving work from 1 agent to another usually means a paste: the task, a few files, maybe the last answer. The next agent misses the decisions behind the work, so it asks the same questions again or undoes a choice you already made. Then you read a result that nobody checked.
The 4 parts of a checked handoff
| Part | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Goal | The task in 1 to 3 lines |
| Context pack | The topic's state, settled decisions, answered questions, people and files, 3,000 tokens at most |
| Budget | A time budget and a capped number of review rounds |
| Acceptance checks | What the result must pass before it reaches you |
The checks run first. A failed check sends a fix list back to the agent that did the work. A reviewer from another model family can also check the result. Both share 1 capped budget, so a handoff cannot loop forever.
The 4 modes
| Mode | What the agent may do |
|---|---|
| review | Read only. Codex runs in its read-only sandbox, Claude Code and Grok with a read and search tool list |
| research | Read and search the web |
| write | Edit files, within the agent's own permissions |
| browser | Drive the browser, 1 agent at a time, with a queue |
A worked example
Claude Code finished a change. You want Codex to review it before you read anything.
- Name the goal. "Review the retry change in src/billing for race conditions."
- Pick the agent and the mode. Codex, review. Its sandbox stays read-only.
- Check the pack.
bp pack billing --for codex --role review-readonlyshows the exact brief Codex will get. - Start the handoff.
bp delegate codex --mode review --topic billing "Review the retry change in src/billing for race conditions" - Read the card. It shows the verdict, the checks, where the result is and the command to resume the Codex session.
The same handoff starts from the command bar or from a card in the app. Nothing runs before you press Run.
Presets
bp delegate has presets for common jobs: code-review, second-opinion, legal-review, browser, x-research and single. A preset sets the mode and the checks; you still write the goal.
What a handoff never does
A handoff never sends, pays, deletes or deploys. If the work reaches 1 of those steps, the agent prepares it and brainplane shows a stop card. You press the final button yourself.
Questions
Which agents can receive a handoff?
Codex, Grok, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Qwen Code, Copilot CLI, Cursor CLI, Factory Droid, Pi, OpenCode, Amp and Aider have an adapter for bp delegate.
Does the next agent see my whole history?
No. It gets the context pack for 1 topic, within the vendor scopes you set. A topic with no scope goes to no agent.
Where does the result go?
To a result file for the handoff, and to 1 finished card in your Inbox with the verdict and the checks.